* Opportunity to meet new book Rusted Off author Ms Gabrielle Chan in Wagga Wagga on Thursday 22 November

* Event hosted by leading researcher at CSU Three Rivers University Department of Rural Health

Three Rivers University Department of Rural Health (UDRH) at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga will host a free event on Thursday 22 November to examine the momentous social and environmental challenges that rural Australia is weathering.

Senior Principal Research Fellow at Three Rivers UDRH Professor Deborah Warr (pictured), a sociologist, will host the public conversation with journalist and author Ms Gabrielle Chan about her new book, Rusted Off – Why country Australia is fed up (Vintage 2018).

The public is invited to Cache – Store of Food, at 220 Baylis St, Wagga Wagga (5.30pm for a 6pm start) to hear Ms Chan explore the issues implied in the book’s subtitle, Why country Australia is fed up, with the examination expertly guided by Professor Warr.

The conversation will continue with drinks and canapes, and copies of Rusted Off – Why country Australia is fed up will be available for purchase.

Professor Warr is a sociologist who has recently resettled in Wagga Wagga from Melbourne where she worked at the University of Melbourne and was awarded a series of prestigious research fellowships.

These included an ARC Future Fellowship (2013-17) which supports researchers to conduct research addressing areas of critical national importance. Her research focused on understanding the kinds of social infrastructure that promoted health and wellbeing in settings of locational disadvantage.

Professor Warr has collaborated with epidemiologists to explore relationships between place and health and the social determinants of health, and with artists to explore the potential of art in promoting social and cultural exclusion. She has published widely on issues related to health, place-based stigma, arts practice, research ethics, and the potential of collaborative and engaged research. She relishes the new challenges presented in her role as the Senior Principal Research Fellow at Three Rivers UDRH at CSU.

The free CSU Three Rivers UDRH event at Cache – Store of Food at 220 Baylis St Wagga Wagga on Thursday 22 November, from 5.30pm for a 6pm start, to hear journalist and author Ms Gabrielle Chan explore issues in her new book, Rusted Off – Why country Australia is fed up.

Three Rivers University Department of Rural Health is a department of Charles Sturt University and is part of a consortium partnership with The University of New South Wales, Western Sydney University and Notre Dame University. Charles Sturt University and its consortium partners acknowledge the financial support provided by the Australian Government Department of Health through its Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training Program in the establishment of the Three Rivers University Department of Rural Health.

For further information about this event or Three Rivers UDRH, please contact: